A wild car chase downtown had a suspect throwing drugs and money out his window, and some of the "evidence" was gone by the time cops tried to retrieve it, police said. Not only that, but the pursuit ended near a video shoot for the band Muse, according to one report.

It started near 6th and San Pedro streets around 4:25 p.m. yesterday when a bicycle cop tried to stop a Land Rover Discovery and the suspect behind the wheel tried to run the law enforcer down, according to LAPD Officer Karen Rayner and television reports. And then ...

... the suspect allegedly drove north and then west -- the wrong way -- down Fourth Street as a motorcycle cop gave chase, police said. That's when the alleged bad guy crashed into a two vehicles in front of a crowd at Main Street, according to police and reports.

Why was there a crowd there? Muse happened to be shooting stills and a music video nearby when all the sirens came screaming through, according to CBS Los Angeles.

But wait, there's more:

On the way to Fourth and Main, the driver allegedly tossed drugs and money out of the SUV. Since the chase was in the Greater Skid Row area, it appears that area residents were quick to help police clean up the crime scene, according to what Rayner told CBS L.A.

Footage depicted cops checking under a manhole for the evidence. CBS L.A. says the bulk of the loot ended up around San Pedro and Fifth streets. But Rayner told the station the drugs and cash was gone by the time cops backtracked to retrieve it:

Unfortunately the people in the streets in that particular area got to it before we did.

Meanwhile, one person in one of the cars hit by the suspect's vehicle complained of pain but was not hospitalized, police said.

@rampcreative

The suspect, a man in his 20s, was being examined to determine if he was under the influence of drugs, police said. Oh, and he got a nice set of handcuffs. (Some Twitter reports indicated he allegedly resisted arrest, even after all was said and done).

The man's alleged tossing of the goods didn't seem to help much: Rayner says drugs and money were found in the Land Rover anyway.

Dennis Romero is an L.A. Weekly staff writer. He formerly worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times, where he participated in Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the L.A. riots. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone online, the Guardian and, as a young stringer, the New York Times.